September has indeed been warm, and the time has been used by many to work on their homes, repair their roofs, garden and also to take a stroll and swim in the sea. The balmy weather is also most likely the reason for an increase in the number of guests staying on the Herceg Novi Riviera, 9690 in total, which is an increase of 30 percent on last year, shared almost equally between hotels and private accommodation.

It’s well known that locals prefer to enjoy the September sunshine and sea, not yet cooled by storms or rain. The unbearable heat and crowds pass, and the locals themselves can then experience a welcome gift of the warm, therapeutic caress of the sea and the sun’s rays.

The air temperature in recent days has reached 29°c, and the sea 23°C. This meant that many locals have been joining tourists, mainly from Russia, on the beaches.

However, one can rarely count on the swimming season to continue through October. From today, many of those running the beach bars are shutting up shop.  They follow what the forecasts say, and it doesn’t pay to hold out much longer. Meteorologists are predicting a cold front from tomorrow, with rain in the evening, and temperatures some 7-8 degrees cooler.

But today? Well, it still looks a lot like summer!

Source: Radio Jadran

The national carrier of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark - Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced yesterday that it would be adding another scheduled service to Tivat, starting in summer 2020.

The service from Copenhagen to Tivat will operate from 1 July to 8 August next year.

Flights will run twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with an Airbus A321, providing significantly larger capacity than the aircraft already used by SAS on its regular summer flights from Oslo and Stockholm to Tivat.

The non-governmental organization Green Home presented the results of the project "I am ready", which lasted for nine months and aimed at raising awareness among primary and secondary school students about the risks of natural and other disasters through educational campaigns (fires, floods, earthquakes, heatstroke, snow, and snowstorms, etc.).

According to Green Home spokeswoman Sanja Orlandic, the goal was to contribute to prevention, more adequate and faster response in the event of a natural disaster, protection of ecosystems and improvement of the environment.

The project was supported by the Ministry of the Interior, from the funds of the Protection and Rescue Fund, and it lasted from January 1st to September 30th.

Pupils from Herceg Novi Elementary School “Blazo Jokov Orlandic” proved to be the best in the campaign and were rewarded with twenty tents and sleeping bags, while students from other schools received first aid kits and fire extinguishers.

Text by Borko Zdero, on September 30th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

The Public Works Administration has launched a tender for the reconstruction of King Nikola's Castle in Niksic.

Bids can be submitted by October 23, when their opening is scheduled, while the decision on the selection of the best bidder, based on the price and quality of the bid, will be made within 30 days.

The works on the Castle, worth 1.2m euros, as previously announced by the local government, imply the complete reconstruction of walls, ceilings, floors, part of the roof, repair of stone driveways and stairways, adaptation of the building to persons with disabilities, while special attention will be paid donated to the Heating and Cooling System for exhibit protection at the Native Museum. The deadline for completion is 12 months from the appointment of the contractor.

A tender for technical supervision during the reconstruction of the Castle has also been announced, and bids can be submitted by October 28, while the decision on the selection of the most favorable bid will be made within 60 days.

King Nikola's castle, the most beautiful building built by the family Petrovic, is located next to the city park and the Congregation Church.

It was built in 1900 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the reign of Prince Nikola.

For years, the Castle, which houses the Native Museum, two galleries, and a library, has been decaying, and because of the moisture and the roof leaking the museum exhibits have been threatened. There are five collections in the museum-gallery section - archeological, antique and medieval, ethnological, historical and gallery holdings.

Although the museum contains precious collections, such as archeological from the prehistoric site the Red Rock with more than 9.5 thousand objects, weapons from all the battles of the Montenegrin history, and the most significant ones were played in the territory of Niksic (Grahovo, Grahovac, Duga, Vucji do, Ostroski klanac). The gallery stock has the works of Lubarda, Sobajic, Prijovic, Stanic - a building that many say is the most beautiful of the four residences of the Montenegrin king, has simply been forgotten for years.

There were also five burglaries and collections, especially numismatic, were damaged.

The dilapidated facade, the curtains that "hide" the damp and moldy walls, has for years been a sad image of the Castle, which has never been sufficiently touristic valorized.

From 1919 until the beginning of World War II, a gymnasium was located in the Castle.

During the war, it was significantly demolished, and from 1949 to 1975 it housed the Primary School "Luka Simonovic", while the ground floor of the Castle from 1976 to 1980 was used by the Secondary School of Economics and Hospitality.

The castle, which until a few years ago housed an archive department that was moved to Niksic Theater building, was renovated in 1984.

Text by Svetlana Mandic, on September 30th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

About nine million euros have been allocated for educational infrastructure in Bijelo Polje.

The Minister of Education Damir Sehovic announced this at the opening of the sports gym at the elementary school "Marko Miljanov", for which about 230,000 euros were invested.

"The Ministry of Education has identified as one of its priorities the renewal of school sports infrastructure and the promotion of school sport, and investments in these projects are of multi-million value. More specifically, at least 15 school sports halls across Montenegro have been completed or planned to be completed or reconstructed," Sehovic said.

He stated that the project was implemented according to the co-financing model of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Sport and Youth and the Municipality of Bijelo Polje in the total amount of EUR 164,000.

"In addition, the Ministry of Education has invested another 60,000 euros for the installation of a heating system in the sport gym, facades and grounds around the hall that has been flooding for many years, as well as the cost of project design and supervision, he said.

Sehovic pointed out that a new school building of the elementary school "Dusan Korac", worth around 5.5m euros, is being built in Bijelo Polje.

He also announced the construction of a € 1.5 million kindergarten through a new project with the Council of Europe Development Bank.

Also, the construction of the Elementary School “Pavle Zizic” in Bijelo Polje, with an estimated value of one million euros, was entered into the Capital Budget and activities were underway to develop documentation," Sehovic said.

Sehovic announced that the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the US Embassy, will also invest hundreds of thousands of euros in the extensive reconstruction of the Elementary School “Aleksa Beco Djilas”, and work is expected to begin in the coming months.

Sports gym in Bijelo Polje(Photo: Jadranka Ćetković)

Minister of Sports Nikola Janovic said that "in this way, the Government of Montenegro provides adequate conditions for training".

“I commend the Talent Fund for which the competition is underway, which is a good opportunity to reward the best young athletes.

Adaptation of the gymnasium hall of the elementary school "Marko Miljanov" entailed works on the roof and insulation of the building, installation of a modern floor for various sports, changing rooms arrangement, painting works, as well as equipping the facility with sports equipment.

The Mayor Petar Smolovic announced new projects in Bijelo Polje: "I would like to remind you that 104 projects are currently being implemented in Bijelo Polje, 16 of them are capital, and 88 are local, or slightly smaller, but very significant for the development of the municipality."

He emphasized the importance of the reconstruction of the sports gym: "I feel special emotions for this largest city school with over 800 students, and I expect many more projects like this in the coming period," said Smolovic.

Text by Jadranka Cetkovic, on September 30th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

October 1, 2019 - Over the next ten years, over 500 million euros will be invested in the further development of the Porto Montenegro resort in Tivat. It was announced by representatives of Adriatic Marinas to specialized journalists on Friday at the Monaco Yacht Show in Monte Carlo.

30 September 2019 - Montenegro’s successful cooperation with the Council of Europe is particularly important in terms of expert support in the field of Montenegrin media legislation reform, said Montenegrin Minister of Culture, Aleksandar Bogdanović at a meeting with Head of the Information Society Department at the Council of Europe Patrick Penninckx. On this occasion, Minister Bogdanović informed Penninckx about activities in drafting new legal solutions.

Mr. Penninckx stressed that the cooperation with the Government of Montenegro and the Ministry of Culture on the reform of media legislation has been extremely productive so far. Furthermore, he expressed the belief that the new legal solutions will further enhance media activity in Montenegro.

The two officials highlighted the importance of free and independent media as a basis for the stability of a democratic society, adding that the aforementioned area should be continuously improved, both through systemic solutions and consistent implementation of rights and obligations by all actors of society.

Minister Bogdanović and Mr. Penninckx spoke about the upcoming start of the second phase of the 2019-2022 JUFREX Horizontal Facility Programme for the Western Balkans and Turkey, with the aim of normative and institutional protection and promotion of freedom of expression and implementation of high standards of the European legal framework as an important precondition and principle of sustainable democracy.

At a ceremony held in the atrium of the Buća-Luković medieval residence in Tivat, the Director of Tivat Tourist Organisation (TO) Gabrijela Glavočić signed an agreement to deliver three projects to promote cultural heritage in the area.

It is a legal obligation for the Organisation to ring-fence ten percent of the total income from residence tax and invest it in projects that affirm, restore or protect local cultural heritage. The Organisation announced the competition for funding at the start of this year. A committee, consisting of Dragan Laković of the Tivat Cultural Centre, and Jelena Bošković from Public Institution “Museum and Gallery”, as well as Ms Glavočić, gave the maximum number of points to all three projects entered into the competition, and decided to provide financing of a total of nearly 16,000 euros.

A field research and publication project on the remains of the ancient Roman water supply system in Bačva, near Tivat Prevlaka, nominated by Public Institution “Museum and Gallery” received 5,262 euros. In contrast, the project entitled “Cultural Promotion and Presentation of the Saint Vitus and Pasiglav Locality”, to be implemented by NGO “Works, not Words”, received 3,902 euros.

The largest sum, a total of 6,500 euros, has been earmarked for the implementation of the project "Promotion of Tivat Memorial Monuments as Tourist Attractions" with an emphasis on monuments to people and events of the National Liberation War. The project was nominated by NGO "Montemisija". "This is the first allocation of funds that we are carrying out for projects that promote and protect local cultural heritage. Not only is this our legal obligation, but also our sincere desire to contribute in this way to the development of cultural tourism in Tivat.

According to UNESCO, cultural tourism is the fastest-growing segment of the entire tourism industry worldwide, with a current market share of 15% of global tourism traffic,” stated Glavočić, adding that the delivery of the selected projects would begin as soon as Tuesday. She also said that Tivat TO would announce another similar competition before the end of the year for financing activities related to protection, research and presentation of Tivat’s cultural and historical heritage, from funds gathered from residence tax in 2017.

30 September 2019 - As it has been already announced, fuel prices in Montenegro will be higher starting from tomorrow. One liter of Eurosuper and Eurodiesel will be 5 cents more expensive, whereas one liter of fuel oil will be by 4 cents more expensive.

Current affairs in Saudi Arabia have spilled over to international markets, impacting the prices of oil derivatives in Montenegro, representatives of the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro stated on this occasion.

In the next 15 days, Eurosuper BMB 98 will cost 1,38 EUR, liter of Eurosuper BMB 95 will be 1,34 EUR and Eurodiesel will cost 1,26 EUR, reported Cafe del Montenegro.

Price of one liter of fuel oil will be 1,23 EUR.

"The next calculation will be on 14 October," said the representatives of the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro.

Read more news about lifestyle in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

30 September 2019 - President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović finished his visit to New York, where he participated in the General Debate of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, meeting with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Guterres expressed satisfaction with the meeting with President Đukanović, because, as he said, Montenegro is a member with no problems. He characterized relations between Montenegro and the UN as excellent, and cooperation in all areas appropriate. The United Nations especially appreciates the initiatives taken towards a peaceful resolution of problems in the region, in which Montenegro is the voice of common sense.

In the context of reaching the full stability of the region, Guterres stressed the importance of creating an environment in which things will move positively, assessing that one of the causes is still unresolved issues, with some delay in Brussels regarding enlargement. He expressed the expectation that the future composition of the European Commission would show greater enthusiasm for the enlargement to the Western Balkans, reported the President's Office.

President Đukanović thanked Secretary-General Guterres for taking the time to meet on a rich agenda during the session and reaffirmed Montenegro's strong partnership and commitment to UN values ​​and multilateralism. He recalled the dynamic agenda of meeting with UN officials and, in the context of continued political dialogue, invited Guterres to visit Montenegro for the 15th anniversary of UN membership in 2021. At the same time, that visit would be a good message for the region as well, Đukanović said.

The President pointed out the key priorities of Montenegro's further development - continuation of European integration and preservation of dynamic economic development, with the assessment that the UN's impetus to accelerate the integration of the Region would be further significant given the strong conviction that WB problems cannot be resolved outside the European Union and Euro-Atlantic structures.

He reaffirmed Montenegro's strong support for UN initiatives and full implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement, as well as reform processes within the system, with continued cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator in Montenegro.

Read more news about politics in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.